August 2 1939 August 23 2022
Mr. Personality A Spirit That Echoes Forever Lee Harold Reynolds A sound rippled through eternity the day Lee H. Reynolds was born. It may have been a mighty roar from a lion or a clangor of rain drops hitting the bottom of a well on August 2, 1939. His arrival into this world could not have been silent. He was the oldest child of Lena Pearl (Haynes) Reynolds and Harold J. Reynolds. A very proud “Grady Baby” from Atlanta, Georgia that never cloaked his humble beginnings in the shadows. Stockbridge, Georgia holds many of his childhood memories. He fetched water from a stream with a bucket not much smaller than him. He got caught eating vegetables in a neighbor’s garden and even had his photo taken by a traveling photographer. Lee spoke fondly of his summers in Atlantic City, NJ. He took the Jitney to and from work, where he recalled entering and exiting a back door for colored employees only. He never let the racism he faced get him down or too “bent out of shape”, as he used to say. He was transformative and grew like crescendos in a song. His relocation to Newark, New Jersey shifted his life forever. He attended Central High School, where he became one of the most lionized students. Track and Field was his first love and basketball was a close second. Playing the trumpet gave him another way to dazzle anyone who would listen. Some people think the dazzler can’t be dazzled, but it happened the day Julietta Brydie joined Lee’s class and sat at a desk in front of him. Let him tell it, her hair draped all the way down the back of her chair and on to his desk, preventing him from seeing his paper clearly. He had to continuously move her hair out of his way to get his work done. The now Mrs. Reynolds might have a slightly different story. The pair continued their song and dance together as Lee followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Air Force in 1958. After basic training in San Antonio, Texas, they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska for a short period where their first daughter, Tonya Reynolds, was born. They returned to Newark, New Jersey, where his second daughter, Tia Reynolds, was born. Lee always made sure to provide any and everything he could for the wellness of his family. He joined the Newark Police Department and served for 25 years. Lee was a Patrolman on the streets of Newark when the riots of 1967 broke out. His career as an officer added an official badge of honor to his heroic nature. Much of what he witnessed in his line of work became the underscoring of rules, regulations, and advice he equipped his children with to survive the harsh realities of life. He received an award for working with the Secret Service on guarding President Nixon when he arrived in Newark. Lee was later promoted to the detective unit working in Vice and Robbery and retired with that success under his invisible cape. During his retirement, he worked as a Loss Prevention Supervisor at Home Depot in South Plainfield, New Jersey. He was one of two black employees to hold that position in the entire eastern division of the Home Depot Corporation at that time. Lee loved traveling to many destinations, including Europe and various islands throughout the Caribbean, with his friends as a founding member of the social club “The 8 of Us”. The sound of a steel drum would light up his face and send a rhythmic tremor through his shoulders as he stepped into his next adventure. The Dominican Republic was his absolute favorite. We never stopped hearing about the Mangos there. He leaves to mourn his wife of 64 years Julietta Reynolds; daughters, Tonya Reynolds and Tia Reynolds; granddaughters, Toshae Reynolds and Tanisa Reynolds-Francis; sister-in-law, Carol Bennett; nephews, Lawrence Reynolds II and Lawrence Reynolds III; niece, Monique Gaskins; cousins, Edward Milton Haynes, Stanley Reeves, and Chandra Wellmaker; honorary daughter, Melvanice Evans; and a host of other family and friends. A Memorial Service will be held at 3:00 PM on Sunday, August 28, 2022 in the Loganville Chapel of Tim Stewart Funeral Home with Antonio Henson officiating. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service. Arrangements by Tim Stewart Funeral Home, 670 Tom Brewer Road, Loganville, GA 30052. 770-466-1544. Please sign the online guest registry at www.stewartfh.com. You may have sent a card, given us a call, or any other acknowledgement. The Reynolds Family thanks you for everything.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Lee Harold Reynolds August 2 1939 August 23 2022.
Death notice for the town of: Monroe, state: Georgia